Judge says Spirit Lake school board broke open meetings law

District Court judge John Duffy has ruled the Spirit Lake school board violated the state open meetings law in two of four cases in a lawsuit brought by several district residents.

One was a meeting held in a lobby of a Des Moines hotel in November of 2007, and the other was a closed meeting that should have been opened on January 9th of 2008.

Duffy ruled the meeting in the Des Moines hotel lobby 200 miles from Spirit Lake was held in his words, "in a blatant disregard for the public’s right of access to the meeting." The judge says the January 9th meeting should have been opened when none of the candidates for the superintendent’s job asked that the meeting be closed.

Board members at the time of the violations will have to pay 400 dollars plus court costs.